Forum › SHY discussion

Bd-9rivccaa0cut
joined Aug 10, 2015

Oh he definitely turnin’.

Internet_lied
joined Jul 15, 2016

What is it with anime villains and the Hobbesean ideal of our state of nature? I mean, it's like every other bad guy in action anime is motivated by nothing more than "true nature of man is evil, and so society is just a thin layer over it, so let's strip it away with magic and turn everyone evil", completely oblivious to the fact that antisocial behavior only emerges when it is imposed upon from above. I mean, it's a good Aesop, but it's also kind of a "Baby's First Villain Motivation" here -- when you cannot come up with an interesting villain, make them spout Hobbes instead. :-\

last edited at Oct 27, 2020 7:04AM

joined Jul 26, 2016

^I mean. Used to be their psychological depth amounted to "put on goth makeup and do teh evulz for no discernible reason" so rampant moral nihilism is serious progress.

...I'll leave aside the questionable statements about why people behave badly.

Tragedian%202
joined Oct 1, 2020

What is it with anime villains and the Hobbesean ideal of our state of nature? I mean, it's like every other bad guy in action anime is motivated by nothing more than "true nature of man is evil, and so society is just a thin layer over it, so let's strip it away with magic and turn everyone evil", completely oblivious to the fact that antisocial behavior only emerges when it is imposed upon from above. I mean, it's a good Aesop, but it's also kind of a "Baby's First Villain Motivation" here -- when you cannot come up with an interesting villain, make them spout Hobbes instead. :-\

The best villains work as foils to your protagonist and help them develop, particularly in a long-running series that doesn't fit into a neat three-act structure. The Freudian approach of, "Oh, my parents smacked me around when I was a kid and now I want to kill every adult," used to be even more popular, but it was pretty hard to execute right, since audiences would either 1) feel legitimately terrible for the villain and realize how privileged a hero with relatively stable parental figures would be, 2) groan at the cliché and point out that bad parents don't make bad people, since half of all heroes in fiction also have terrible childhoods, or 3) go to sleep while the author is busy putting the plot on vacation to talk about the villain's family situation. As the previous poster pointed out, black-and-white ethics don't fare much better unless you're talented enough to double down on the hero-villain moral opposition and make each of them genuinely compelling in their own right, and not everyone can write villains as entertaining in their awfulness as, say, Dio from JJBA.

Having your villains indulge in complex philosophical debate with the heroes isn't always the best strategy, because the surface fascination of things like nihilism and utilitarianism tends to evaporate once you get into the nitty-gritties and start debating logic, metaphysics and the nature of knowledge, perceptions and reality. Philosophy, unlike subjects like history, has a large collection of concepts that are very easy to Google and summarize, so you don't need to do a PhD course in it to get the basics. From thereon out, you put a token moral dilemma to evoke token grey morality and make the audience nod thoughtfully for three seconds before some-or-the-other plot device magically resolves the conflict. Hobbesian philosophy is one of those variants that perfectly contrast the superhero-genre's assumptions of fundamental human virtue, while still being incredibly easy to contradict by going, "Uh, nope, you're just an edgelord, now watch as I channel the power of all the random old ladies I helped cross the street." Basically, it allows you to simulate the semblance of logic so that both the authors and the readers can pretend that thinking was done, which is sufficient enough to tick off the checkboxes of 'three-dimensional antagonist' and 'philosophical conflict' that you'd expect to find in a 21st century action story aimed at young adults.

And of course, considering the amount of people who unironically believe that characters like the Joker or Thanos are tragic villains who did nothing wrong, I'd argue that these massy, pseudo-intellectual philosophies can still come off as legitimately mindblowing to large demographics. So if publishers and the market are willing to support such works, then why would an author ever want to push themselves to do anything legitimately complex or new? Case in point, SHY has a relatable female protagonist, an interesting premise involving national heroes, cute enough character designs and traits to make the cast pop, and enough shades of queerness to stand out in the already-rare genre of Western-influenced superhero manga. It won't be the next OPM or MHA, but it gets decent attention and feels reasonably unique, which is reason enough to give audiences more of what they want (simplistic moral conflicts ending with hugs, tears and an affirmation that Everyone is Capable of Good Things) as opposed to reinventing the wheel.

Internet_lied
joined Jul 15, 2016

^ Wow, didn't expect such an articulate reply on this forum. I don't really have anything to retort or to add to the above. Thank you.

last edited at Oct 27, 2020 11:11AM

Yurikosmaller2
joined May 28, 2011

ch 55, pg 295 is missing

4
joined Nov 21, 2018

I think that's just because 294 is a two-page spread.

Tragedian%202
joined Oct 1, 2020

"I want to be a gentleman," he says, as he beats the shit out a depressed twelve-year old on international television. Yeah, I get that they're evil and everything, but it just strikes me as mildly hilarious.

joined Aug 21, 2017

What is it with anime villains and the Hobbesean ideal of our state of nature? I mean, it's like every other bad guy in action anime is motivated by nothing more than "true nature of man is evil, and so society is just a thin layer over it, so let's strip it away with magic and turn everyone evil", completely oblivious to the fact that antisocial behavior only emerges when it is imposed upon from above. I mean, it's a good Aesop, but it's also kind of a "Baby's First Villain Motivation" here -- when you cannot come up with an interesting villain, make them spout Hobbes instead. :-\

Funnily enough the claim that antisocial behavior only comes from above is kind of on the opposite side of the spectrum to Hobbes. Antisocial behavior doesn't only emerge from above. Societal pressures and other negative factors certainly play a large, even majority, role in producing antisocial behaviors but there a non-negligible proportion of the population is born with some sort of (probably genetic) antisocial personality disorder.

For an example, see the YouTube video called Interview with a Sociopath by Special Books by Special Kids. There might be a better example elsewhere, this is just the one that came to mind.

joined Jul 26, 2016

David Bowie (Heroic Sociopath edit) is deeply unimpressed by your shenanigans, kids.

"I want to be a gentleman," he says, as he beats the shit out a depressed twelve-year old on international television. Yeah, I get that they're evil and everything, but it just strikes me as mildly hilarious.

TBF she kinda keeps shanking him.

43353v3
joined Jun 7, 2020

Is this Yuri? Probably asked within this thread somewhere, but I don't want to sift through each page in search. Thanks in advance.

joined Jul 7, 2020

Is this Yuri? Probably asked within this thread somewhere, but I don't want to sift through each page in search. Thanks in advance.

well i mean romance is definitely not the focus or genre of the story so i dont think it would make sense to put the yuri label on it as a whole

last edited at Nov 5, 2020 7:46AM

Sk_fb
joined Feb 17, 2013

Its a bit subtexty, and there's Nurse/Shy...

joined Jul 26, 2016

Its a bit subtexty, and there's Nurse/Shy...

I'm reasonably sure all the straight lines start curving subtly whenever Spirits is on screen.

Birdi
joined Sep 19, 2014

No, she should save her to be her girl

Test
joined Sep 8, 2019

Well someone is going to die.

Rsz_1screenshot_2021-08-18_at_11-24-04_the_idolmaster_cinderella_girls_fr%c3%a9d%c3%a9rica_miyamoto_shiki_ichinose_%e3%83%ac%e3%82%a4%e3%82%b8%e3%83%bc%e3%83%ac%e3%82%a4%e3%82%b8%e3%83%bc_-_pixiv
joined Apr 25, 2018

Iko and Teru definitely holding hands.

Lady definitely kisses SHY.

Now we are just waiting for the fanworks, which currently doesn't exist...

Eur0jw7vkayzh-6-picsay
joined Aug 23, 2018

How dare she? How dare bitch chan evil sister whose name i cant remember hurt shy??!?!

Gatchaman%20hajime
joined Dec 3, 2016

You can't break Shy's spirit, girl. She's faced her own weakness and come out the other side. She'll save you, even if it costs her her life.

joined Dec 5, 2018

GO SHY, LET'S GO AND SAVE THAT BITCH ASS. snif snif.. i'm so proud of our girl :')))))

joined May 24, 2014

What sorta unholy fusion is this?!

last edited at Nov 29, 2020 12:18PM

joined Jul 26, 2016

You have activated my trap card!

joined Dec 5, 2018

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKKKKKKKKK

Tragedian%202
joined Oct 1, 2020

Oh my god, they were bodymates.

joined May 24, 2014

Oh my god, they were bodymates.

One and the same all along?

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